The seminar called Music 180 was 30 minutes into its dissection of Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos when the door flew open and a 5-ft. 8½-in. whirlwind spun into the room, flung a fur coat onto a chair, affectionately pinched the cheek of Professor Leon Kirchner and subsided into a sitting position on the floor. It was "retired" Superconductor Leonard Bernstein, now 54, making his rounds at Harvard as the new Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry.*
In characteristic Bernstein style, Lenny relaxed for only a few moments as a pair of suddenly awe-struck students resumed playing the sonata. Then he jumped...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
